"It seems to me you always lose, Knut," she said, sticking a knitting-needle into her hair.
She knew that tone, and added adroitly, as she took the knitting-needle out again and went on knitting:
"Yes, you are always so much too good, while those who don't possess a penny, and don't pay a farthing in taxes, govern us and order us about, and we have just to say 'Thank you' and pay."
This was a healing balm, as she gave expression to the very sentiment that Norby himself was accustomed to propound.
"I suppose you've heard what has happened to Wangen," she said, smiling grimly at her knitting.
"She knows it, then, confound it!" thought the old man. He was standing in front of the stove with his hands behind him, black-bearded, bald, with his blue serge coat buttoned tightly across his broad chest. His large head drooped wearily upon his breast, and he glanced at his wife from beneath his eyebrows. He did not feel equal to any explanations this evening. He had been out in the cold for several hours, and the warmth of the house made him feel increasingly heavy and sleepy.
"Yes indeed!" he said with a yawn; "who would have thought of such a thing happening?"
"It seems to me you have prophesied it often enough of late," she said. "But you may be glad you've had nothing to do with him."
"She doesn't know," thought Norby, with a feeling of relief.
"Ye--es," he growled in an uncertain tone of voice, his eyes dropping once more. He was not equal to either the sacrament matter or Wangen this evening.
Hearing at that moment a well-known laugh in the adjoining room, he took the opportunity of slipping out.
When he entered the next room, his daughter-in-law was sitting by a steaming bath in the middle of the floor, occupied in undressing her two-year-old son, preparatory to giving him his bath.
The old man paused at the door, and his tired face suddenly lit up.
"Who is that?" asked the fair-haired young mother, looking at the child. The boy looked at his grandfather with large, round eyes, and laughed a little shyly; but no sooner was his vest drawn over his head than he wriggled down to the floor to run to Norby. On gaining his liberty, however, he discovered the fact that he was naked, and this was even more interesting than his grandfather. He began to run backwards and forwards upon the floor, slapping his little body and laughing. Then he caught sight of his small breasts, and touched them with his fore-finger, then evaded once more the grasp of his mother, who tried to catch him, and laughed in triumph as he escaped. The old man was obliged to sit down and laugh too.